A SHIRLEY man who wants to share his happy memories growing up in a borough council estate has released an autobiography.
Malcolm Day decided to write a book after his 59-year-old father passed away from cancer before he had a chance to retire.
Malcolm said his daughter was only a year old and the other grandchildren in the family never actually got a chance to know their grandad either.
He added he had so many wonderful memories of his father growing up in Shirley in in the late 50s and early 60s, which he wanted to share.
Malcolm, who attended Cranmore Infant School, Shirley Heath Junior School and Harold Malley School, said he wanted to tell the story of his happy upbringing on a council estate and why he had turned out as the person he was.
“I was a cheeky, ginger-haired lad from the Cranmore council estate, who was lucky enough to have three wonderful male role models, to influence me – my father, uncle and grandad,” he added.
Malcolm said he had called his book ‘The Making of a ‘Ginger’ Nut – Nature or Nurture?’ because he had built it on the threads of his childhood.
“I have spoke about how they have influenced me and how I have turned out to be the person I am,” he added.
“I have tried to answer the question of ‘nurture over nature’ by talking about the many memories I have of growing up in Shirley.
“We were quite a poor family, from a council estate and although I was from a poor family I had very happy upbringing.”
Malcolm said he started writing the book when his mom was dying from cancer, 30 years later after his father, in 2012.
“I started writing it in last few days she was with us, while I was sitting with her at night,” he added.
“I had been thinking about it and jotting down notes for about fours years – it took me about 12 months to write and 12 to 18 months to edit it and get it published.”
Malcolm, whose book was released just before Christmas, said so far he had received quite a good response and so was quite pleased.
Malcolm’s book is available on Amazon for £7.99.
